The Foreign Labor Statistics (FLS) program provides international comparisons of hourly compensation costs; productivity and unit labor costs; labor force, employment and unemployment rates; and consumer prices. The comparisons relate primarily to the major industrial countries, but other countries are included in certain measures.
Because statistical concepts and methods vary from country to country, international comparisons of statistical data can be misleading. The Bureau of Labor Statistics attempts to derive meaningful comparisons by selecting a conceptual framework for comparative purposes; analyzing foreign statistical series and selecting those which most nearly match the desired concepts; and adjusting statistical series, where necessary and feasible, for greater inter-country comparability.

Publications

"Technical Information about Measures from the Foreign Labor Statistics Program," (PDF 96K) This document describes the comparative statistical measures that BLS publishes, as well as the methodology used to calculate these measures. June 2008.

Manufacturing Employment and Compensation in China. (PDF 625K) (Revised November 2005) This revised report, prepared by Judith Banister under contract to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, was commissioned by BLS in order to assess the quality and usability of the official data that are available from China on manufacturing employment and compensation. Because of concerns about the quality of the available data, BLS does not plan to include China in its comparative foreign labor statistics program at this time; however, further research is underway. Please note: The opinions, analysis, and conclusions expressed in the report are solely those of the author.

Related Links

Other BLS Programs

Import/Export Price Indexes—monthly data on changes in the prices of imported and exported nonmilitary goods traded between the U.S. and the rest of the world.

International Technical Cooperation—conducts training in labor statistics for international participants and coordinates international requests for BLS services including technical experts and short-term visits to BLS.